International

Attempt to legalize abortion, gay marriage fails in Mexican Congress

The portion of a constitutional reform initiative seeking to legalize abortion and same-sex marriage in Mexico did not advance in the nation’s legislature. A gender parity bill was debated and approved in both houses of the Mexican Congress May 23. The bill would require that half of the country’s public service sector be women. Porfirio […]

Francis mandates clergy abuse reporting worldwide, empowers archbishops to do investigations

Pope Francis issued sweeping new laws for the Catholic Church on the investigation of clergy sexual abuse May 9, mandating for the first time that all priests and members of religious orders worldwide are obligated to report any suspicions of abuse or its cover-up. The pontiff has also established a new global system for the […]

Pope discusses deaconesses, need for nuns to be servants not ‘maids’

She thanked the Pope for being a source of inspiration and helping the church fight the abuse of minors and vulnerable people. “We are also grateful for your having faced the painful issue of abused religious,” she said, noting that many forms of abuse occur world-wide, including cases of religious abusing their fellow sisters. National […]

German Catholic women begin boycott over lack of reforms

A grassroots Catholic women’s movement – using the motto of the Virgin Mary who should be given her voice – launched a week of disobedient non-service on May 11 – with the backing of major lay organizations and even singular bishops. The women planned to hold rites outside churches, without priests, and withhold services inside parishes […]

Pew study finds continued support in Western Europe for paying church taxes

To Americans who drop coins into the collection plate, write a check or perhaps text in their Sunday donation, the idea that the state would charge an annual tax to support their church can seem strange and off-putting indeed. But in several Western European countries, a majority of adults not only agree to pay a […]

German bishops’ vice president expects Amazon synod to propose married priests ‘with civil job’

Bishop Franz-Josef Bode, the Vice-President of the German Bishops, states in a new interview that he can “very well imagine that there are also priests with family and [civil] job, similar to our deacons, some of whom are married and have a job.” This model of married “priests with a civil job,” he predicts, will […]

Christians among ‘most persecuted’

Christians are the most persecuted of all religious groups in the world, according to a new report. It is estimated that one third of the world’s population suffers from religious persecution in some form, with Christians being the most persecuted, according to the interim report of the independent review into Foreign and Commonwealth Office support […]

Is the Catholic Church changing on women’s ordination?

In 1979, Sister Theresa Kane welcomed Pope John Paul II on his arrival to the United States with a bold address asking for him to include women “in all ministries of our Church.” The Pope responded with stony silence. Four decades later, and a Latin American Pope walked into the Vatican’s Paul VI hall side […]

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Pope: Red Cross’ humanitarian work shows that fraternity is possible

New Vatican document lists ‘grave violations’ of human dignity